Dangerous Prototypes Big Box of Parts

I discovered The Great Internet Migratory Box of Electronics Junk (TGIMBOEJ for short, ranking right up there as Worst Acronym Ever) recently. It’s a neat idea; sign up on The TGIMBOEJ site and a box chock full ‘o stuff magically appears on your doorstep some time later. Relying on the principal that one person’s junk is another person’s treasure, these magical boxes of cruft get passed along, telephone game style, from one geek to the next. Participants in the game take items out of the box that they find useful and put some of their spare parts in as a replacement. In theory, this process should be very effective with electronics components, as deep discounts can often be attained when purchasing items in larger quantities. Most electronics hobbyests that I’ve met have acquired small hoards of components, whether due to the psychology of THE DISCOUNT (one part for $5, or 20 for $10? Sold!) or through some failed project notion which never fully materialized.

Alas, though I have volunteered my name for one of these mystical TGIMBOEJ packages, I have not yet been blessed by the arrival of the magical component fairy. However, one day while eating a particularly terrible bowl of soup for lunch and reading through my RSS feeds, I discovered that a user on the Dangerous Prototypes forum was starting a new box of parts in the TGIMBOEJ tradition. I threw my hat in the ring and became recipient #3 of this box!

The box arrived at my doorstep about three weeks later. The contents were about what one would expect from a grab bag- some really nice premium items, some unused, run-of-the-mill components, and some seriously dubious cruft (including a bunch of badly desoldered components with twisted and gnarled pins). I really wish I had made a full inventory of stuff in the box or at least had taken a few pictures documenting the contents; the dichotomy of parts was pretty stunning.

And some miscellaneous Analog samples in surface-mount packages that I would probably never use

I also threw in some other miscellaneous odds and ends that aren’t really worth mentioning. All new, functional parts that were cluttering up my workbench and that I probably would have never used.

I’m really happy with how this turned out; I got some new parts to mess around with, got rid of unnecessary clutter, and (hopefully) someone else will find the items that I submitted useful.

The box is still floating around the country, and registration is still open if you want to get in on the action (this box is for USA participants only). Just hop over to the DangerousPrototypes forum and add your name to the message thread!